Wild Night
by YouHaveNoIdeaWhatImCapableOf
Summary: A group of friends experience the Quidditch World Cups aftermath.


**School: Durmstrang**

**Theme: For your theme you should take a look at an extravagant magical catastrophe.**

**Main Prompt: (Event) The Quidditch World Cup**

**Additional Prompts:****(Behavior) Sneaky**

**Year:****1**

**Wordcount: 1328**

**Extra Note: As I know it will probably come up, the group I'm writing about was camping far enough away from the stadium so that the protections don't kick in. It's my understanding that the campsite wasn't protected, or at least none that would affect the characters**.

As soon as Jade Reeves heard the explosion from the nearby campgrounds, she knew that something was wrong. Something like that just didn't happen at a peaceful campsite. Especially not in the middle of the night.

She and a group of her friends had decided to take a camping trip while they all had vacation time from work, Jade from her novice newspaper anchor job at the university she went to. Instead of the cabins that everyone preferred, she and her friends found a spot in the middle of the woods and set up their tents. Everything had been going wonderfully, until that night.

Turning over to her friend Laurie, she shook her and said, "Hey, Laurie, did you hear that?"

Laurie groaned and said, "What? I didn't hear a thing. Go back-"

Before she could say anything else, another explosion shook their tent, closer this time. "Come on!" Jade exclaimed, grabbing a sweatshirt from the floor beside her and leaving the tent. Laurie followed quickly behind her, still blinking sleepily as she pulled on her jacket.

Arriving outside, Jade saw that the rest of their friends had woken up and came out to see what was happening. Zoey in particular looked petrified as she said, "What's going on, guys? Is it some kind of terror attack?"

"Why would someone attack a campsite? That's silly," Riley said. "I don't know, maybe someone's camp stove blew up?"

"Let's just walk over to the campsite and see what's going on," Jade suggested. "Come on, let's go."

"Okay, that's sensible," Hannah agreed. The group of five headed through the forest to where they knew the official campgrounds were, finding it in record time. The place was as they remembered it... And yet it wasn't.

Tents were on fire, groups of people running, terror-filled, towards the forest, and other people wearing masks with horrible faces on them sent jets of light at anyone who was close to them. The scene was utter pandemonium.

"Guys, what do we do?" Zoey asked, searching her friends gazes anxiously for reassurance.

"Just hide," Laurie answered. "Come on, quick, and don't get separated!"

The group started their retreat, but before they did, Jade caught sight of something floating in the air. It was near where the campmaster, Mr. Roberts, lived, and the figures looked like people.

"Guys!" she exclaimed. "There are people floating in the air! Look!" She pointed to where they were, and every second the figures became more obviously human. However, there was something off about them. Hannah was the first to notice it.

"They seem like they're asleep…" she murmured, the fear evident in her voice. Jade, however, had the feeling that it was something far more sinister.

"Or unconscious." Riley seemed to be following her train of thought. "Something is very wrong here."

Zoey stared at them nervously. "Guys, this is getting odd. I don't know if just hiding is going to be good enough."

"It's going to have to be," Jade replied. "Let's go, guys,, we just need to keep our heads down and hide, and we'll be okay." At least, she hoped it would be.

They hurried off through the forest, and were quickly joined by hundreds of people fleeing from the campsites. Jade noticed that many people seemed to be holding long sticks, but she had no idea what they could be for.

After a few minutes, they stopped, panting from the effort of running. "Okay, we should be far enough away to be safe," Riley gasped out. "Let's hide here."

Leaning against a tree, Jade looked around at her friends. "Guys, this is crazy. Those people were doing magic or something like that. How else do you think those people were floating in the air?"

"And those streaks of light?" Hannah recalled. "Spells or something?"

"What about that?" Zoey pointed up to the sky, where something was writhing through the clouds.

"What is that?" Laurie wondered.

"Come on, let's go see," Riley said. "There's a clearing up ahead."

The group headed towards the clearing, staring skyward the whole way. Eventually, they saw what Zoey had pointed out. It was a cluster of glittering things that seemed to be stars, except they were tinged green and shaped like a skull with a snake through the mouth.

And suddenly, they heard screams coming from the forest surrounding them. Other people who had fled were now able to see the symbol, but it seemed to mean something more to them than it did to Jade and her friends.

Everyone watched the sign glittering in the sky, until eventually it disappeared. They noticed that the campers slowly retreated back into the forest, leaving the girls alone.

"What do we do now?" Jade asked her friends as they sat on the ground, waiting for things to calm.

"Head back to the tents?" Laurie suggested. "That's what everyone else has done."

Before they could start back, a loud crack sounded right in front of them. A young man had just appeared in front of them, and he hadn't been here before. Jade was so surprised, she quickly hid behind a tree.

"What just happened?" Zoey exclaimed, staring wide-eyed at the man. "Who are you?"

"Good evening, ladies," the man said. "My name is Owen Quinn, and I am an Obliviator with the Ministry of Magic. We got an alert that there were Muggles in this area who may have been witness to magical events, and I was sent to verify these claims."

"A what?" Riley questioned. "All I know is that there have been some pretty freaky things going on tonight, and we need some answers."

"Please," Hannah echoed. "What was that symbol, and why did everyone freak out so much?"

"Calm down, ladies, please," Owen Quinn said, a placating tone in his voice. "I'll explain, if you'll calm down."

Jade wanted to step out, to join her friends, but she was terrified of this man for seemingly no reason. A moment later, she had her reason. The man took out a stick similar to the ones that so many of the fleeing campers had, saying, "_Obliviate."_

Jade didn't know what it meant, but watched as her friends faces grew slightly unfocused, and the man pocketed the stick before disappearing again. This time, out of fear for her friends, Jade rushed from behind her tree. "Guys, are you okay?!"

"What are you talking about, Jade?" Laurie asked, giving her a puzzled look. She took a look around and said, "Why are we in the middle of the woods instead of the tents?"

"Huh?" Jade was now puzzled. "But there were all those explosions! The symbol thing in the sky?"

"You must have dreamed that, Jade," Hannah said. "We must have just decided to take a walk."

"At 2 am?" Jade questioned. "Guys-" And finally, it clicked for her. The spell that the man had cast must have erased her friends' memories of the night's events. "You're right, I guess. Let's find the tents."

* * *

When they finally ended their trip, Jade started back to work at the newspaper of her university. She knew exactly the article she wanted to write. The past week had been strange. She had tried to trip her friends up about the night of the magical events, but they never slipped up. No one believed her when she brought it up, so she stopped. But now she would speak. She would write an article about it.

When their camping trip was finally over, Jade went back to working with her school's newspaper. She knew exactly the article that she was going to write. The past week had been strange. Jade had tried to get her friends to remember the night of the magical events but they never remembered. No one had believed her when she brought it up, so she stopped. But now she could finally say something about that night. She could write an article about it and share her story.


End file.
